Man faces charges for pole stunt

An aspiring rapper climbed a light pole in the heart of Times Square on Tuesday morning and spent nearly an hour in a standoff with police.

Law enforcement sources tell NBC New York it is the same man who jumped a barricade on the plaza in Rockefeller Center and briefly disrupted the "Today" show, shouting that he was "God's gift to music" while the hosts were live on the air.

In the latest incident, the man climbed a traffic pole at the intersection of Seventh Avenue and 44th Street and sat above the busy corner, at times gesturing in the air, and refusing police orders to come down.

The ordeal outside MTV's offices attracted hundreds of onlookers, as police halted traffic and set up an inflatable cushion under the pole.

Police eventually persuaded the man to climb down a ladder they had set up atop a police vehicle.

Police took him into custody when he finally came down at about 11:15 a.m.